NEW: Paragon spyware hit a key Italian campaign manager / political strategist. Super concerning case & a reminder that Italy has a growing pile of unexplained infections with Paragon's Graphite spyware.

EFF was created for scary moments like the one we’re facing now. For 35 years, EFF has fought to ensure your rights follow you online and wherever you use technology. Join us today: supporters.eff.org/donate/tbc

“It’s astonishing how the industry is able to experiment on human populations with such far-reaching technology and largely unrestrained.” Citizen Lab director @rondeibert.bsky.social discusses the ethical risks of AI in an interview with the @financialpost.com. financialpost.com/technology/c...

Along with numerous orgs and individuals, I have signed on to an Open Letter to the 🇨🇦 Minister of AI raising serious concerns about the government's approach to AI strategy. Details are here 👇 bccla.org/policy-submi...

Everyone is talking about AI. It's obviously having a transformative impact across all sectors of society. So how should the Canadian government approach it? My interview with Yvonne Lau for the @financialpost.com financialpost.com/technology/c...

Toronto: I'll be giving a talk about my book Chasing Shadows at Hot Docs theatre this coming Sunday November 2nd. Details here: hotdocs.ca/whats-on/fil... Hope to see you there

What can you do to better protect yourself in the Age of TechnoFascism? If you're asking this question, I highly recommend this talk and post by @micahflee.com 👇 micahflee.com/practical-de...

The situation in the United States has become very dark, and will get a whole lot darker if trends continue. The entire world, and Americans who get it, need to wake up, and work together to contain and reverse what is going on, before it's too late. Time is running out.

Good to see some accountability in 🇵🇱 Former Polish official indicted; Illegally transferred money from a fund meant for victims of online abuse to purchase mercenary spyware And then target (as we @citizenlab.ca uncovered) political oppositions' phones therecord.media/former-polis...

"There are 700,000 points covering 160 countries on this map. Each one represents a cell phone that was tracked at a specific place in time. Some phones are tracked multiple times over the course of an hour or day or week..." revealnews.org/podcast/cell...

American enshittification

I am very honoured to be awarded the Simon Fraser University's Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy On behalf of all of my colleagues @citizenlab.ca and our partners around the world thank you for this recognition of our work youtu.be/41wkXFyEsP8?...

All gas, no brakes

Exhibit A for why proper oversight is essential Canada's 🇨🇦 CSIS mischaracterized its use of undisclosed secret surveillance tech. Report is heavily redacted but... The technology introduced “a significant expansion of collection capabilities and operational risks.” www.ctvnews.ca/politics/art...

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you www.motherjones.com/politics/202... A stunning investigation by @lighthousereports.com of what I call "despotism as a service"👇

For over a decade, we @citizenlab.ca have documented extensive abuse of NSO Group's spyware, including being used to target political opposition, journalists, activists, human rights defenders and US govt officials. *This sale should not be permitted* techcrunch.com/2025/10/10/s...

NEW @citizenlab.ca report (10/02/25) We uncovered a network of more than 50 inauthentic X profiles conducting an AI-enabled IO whose aim was to foment revolt in Iran We assess the Israeli gov, or a private contractor under its direction, is likely responsible citizenlab.ca/2025/10/ai-e...

Last week we @citizenlab.ca published an investigation into a likely Israeli-directed AI influence op targeting Iranians citizenlab.ca/2025/10/ai-e... This superb analysis by @jacksapoch.bsky.social & colleagues of 43 official IDF videos found recycled 3D animations and spatial inaccuracies 👇

Labelling domestic political opposition "terrorism"

5/What strikes me most: Iran’s own repression creates the conditions for this. Decades of censorship and propaganda breed nihilism and distrust, leaving citizens vulnerable to synthetic manipulation.

Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion It's also a violation of academic freedom and the First Amendment of the Constitution www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Research by @citizenlab.ca @amnesty.org @accessnow.org and others has shown numerous European companies abuse spyware to target activists, journalists, and others Now we see EU funds have actually helped finance spyware development too See apache.be/2025/10/01/e...

The US 🇺🇸 gov has moved from combatting, to now openly facilitating, transnational repression

New: ICE has bought a tool that tracks the locations of hundreds of millions of phones globally, updates every single day. Usually harvested from apps and advertising www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

A "war from within" Or what is otherwise known as a "civil war" Every day another descent into a very dark place.

Shameless cowards www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

People of Illinois, we need your help. Get your cell phones out – record what you see. Put it on social media. Peacefully ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors. We need to let the world know this is happening – and that we won’t stand for it.

A good post by Bruce Schneier: digital threat modeling under authoritarianism www.schneier.com/blog/archive...

Feds in military gear flood downtown Chicago; top border chief says people arrested based on ‘how they look’ Open racial profiling chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Political loyalty tests for 🇺🇸 universities to receive research funding. A fundamental violation of academic freedom. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Cyber security expert @rondeibert.bsky.social exposes a dark underworld of digital espionage in this Oct 22 event, and in his instant bestselling book, Chasing Shadows. Moderated by William Johnson and presented in partnership with @simonschusterca.bsky.social writersfest.bc.ca/festival-eve...

A 🇪🇸Barcelona judge has decided to investigate for the first time two fmr Civil Guard directors for spying on the independence movement using Pegasus.The complaint is also vs. the National Intel. Service in this particular espionage case & against executives of NSO Group. en.ara.cat/politics/jud...

If you would like for me to come to your conference or convening and give a 45-minute rant about what makes good digital privacy trainings and guides, particularly for high-risk populations, hit me up.

I hate to be one of the "told you so" types, but I told you so... ( just a couple of weeks ago: www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...) Excellent summary of the AI risks to cyber security by @joemenn.bsky.social 👇

Since March 2025, Insikt Group has observed a Russian covert influence network creating at least 200 new fictional media websites targeting the United States (US), France, & Canada Uses self-hosted, uncensored large language models (LLMs) to generate content www.recordedfuture.com/research/cop...

ICE has a new contract with Magnet for its mobile forensic extraction tool Graykey techcrunch.com/2025/09/18/i... For travellers entering the US 🇺🇸, be prepared for possible device seizures. I spoke about this to CBC The Current @mattgalloway.bsky.social a while back here: www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Meta Accused of Torrenting Porn to Advance Its Goal of AI ‘Superintelligence’ Would you expect anything less? www.wired.com/story/meta-l...

The fact that there is no "organization" attached to Antifa works in the Trump regime's favour. Anyone can become a suspect based on fragments of circumstantial evidence. Even a post like this...

This silly lawsuit, Bondi's eminently wrong statement about hate speech, Blanche's wrong First amendment assertions, Higgins's letters aren't meant to be winners in court. They are meant to intimidate dissenters, chill speech and encourage capitulation. It's a classic SLAPP strategy.

Check out @citizenlab.ca's @sanstis.bsky.social on the extraterritorial human rights dimensions of digital transnational repression 👇

Trump’s chilling effect on Big Law firms taking on pro bono work has “been a nightmare,” said the president of a small nonprofit that investigates civil rights violations. “People don’t want to stand up, and because of that, people are suffering.” By @mtredden.bsky.social

Spyware industry pockets EU subsidies while snooping on its citizens www.ftm.eu/articles/spy... Great work by @vaspanagiotopoulos.com showing how EU taxpayer money funds a surveillance industry that sells to authoritarian regimes abroad.

NEW: Spyware installed on Kenyan filmmakers' phones in police custody @citizenlab.ca confirms cpj.org?p=516177

Congratulations, Cindy for your amazing dedication, principled professionalism and many accomplishments. And for being a cherished friend and ally of us here @citizenlab.ca

“Instead of ‘democratizing intelligence’… we are witnessing a kind of collective brain damage.”

📣 NEW -- In The Economist, discussing the privacy perils of AI agents and what AI companies and operating systems need to do--NOW--to protect Signal and much else! www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

"Canada's new Minister of AI must not be naive to its harms" @rondeibert.bsky.social's latest oped in @theglobeandmail.com

"We are witnessing a kind of collective brain damage. The Minister of AI should be mitigating those risks, rather than naively championing the tech behind it all."- @rondeibert.bsky.social Canada’s new Minister of AI must not be naive to its harms: www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

And to @rondeibert.bsky.social ‘s point: “The Russians have flooded social media with fake posts, videos and entire websites that are created and spread on TikTok, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube using increasingly effective AI tools.”

Great oped by @citizenlab.ca ‘s @rondeibert.bsky.social on AI + disinformation. Two quotes I feel especially close to: 1/ Social media & AI platforms have shut down open interfaces previously used by researchers, while becoming litigious toward critics & researchers, stifling independent watchdogs.